- (1.) Mr M. C. Mehta - environmentalist lawyer - has filed this public interest petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India seeking a direction to the Haryana Pollution Control Board (the Board) to control the pollution caused by the stone crushers, pulverisers and mine operators in the Faridabad- balabgarh area. We are in the process of monitoring the petition. The core question which we propose to deal with in this order is whether - to preserve environment and control pollution - the mining operations should be stopped within the radius of five kilometres (kms) from the tourist resorts of Badkal Lake and Surajkund in the State of Haryana.
(2.) This court by order dated 20-1 1-1995 directed the Board to inspect and ascertain the impact of mining operations on the ecologically sensitive area of badkal Lake and Surajkund. The inspection was done by a team of the Board comprising Dr B. Sengupta, Senior Scientist, Shri Lalit Kapoor, Senior environmental Engineer, Shri R. C. Kataria, Environmental Engineer and Dr J. Moitra, Scientist 'b'. The inspection report of the Board was placed before this court along with an affidavit filed by Dr S. P. Chakrabarti, Member secretary of the Board. In the affidavit, regarding the mining activities, it is stated as under: "For the purpose of mining, explosives are being used for rock blasting. Because of unscientific mining operation, overburden materials (topsoil and murum remain) were observed to be lying haphazardly. Deep mining for extracting silica sand lumps is causing ecological disaster as these mines lie unreclaimed and abandoned. As a matter of fact mining site reveals total lack of environmental planning. " The report contains the following recommendations regarding the mining activities in the area: "mining At present, manual as well as semi-mechanised mining of hard stone, weathered soft stone and coarse sand in 33 mining areas leased by the State government of Haryana is operative. Explosives are used for rock blasting. Recommendations (1 Environmental Management Plan (EMP) shall be prepared by mine leaseholders for their mines and actual mining operation made operative after obtaining approval from the State Department of Environment or 464 haryana State Pollution Control Board. The Environmental Management plan (EMP) should be implemented following a time-bound action plan. Land reclamation and afforestation programmes shall also be included in the emp and must be implemented strictly by the implementing authorities. (2 Mining activities should be stopped within a radius of 5 kms from badkal Lake and Surajkund (tourist place). (3 At present mining activities are going on without obtaining consent as required under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board. Mine leaseholders shall take appropriate steps to obtain consent from the State Pollution Control board failing which the State Pollution Board shall take necessary action in this regard. (4 The mine-owners should adhere strictly to Mine Safety Plan and install all necessary devices. (5 The overburden along with topsoil should be properly preserved for use at the time of reclamation of abandoned mine. (6 Use of explosives in the mines should be regulated as per the explosives Act, 1884 and after obtaining approval from the competent authorities. " This court on 21/3/1996 noticed the statement of Mr. Gopal Subramaniam, the learned counsel appearing for the State of Haryana in the following words: "Mr Gopal Subramaniam states that the mining work has stopped within the radius of 5 kms of Badkal Lake and Surajkund. We appreciate the gesture of the Haryana government. Mr. Subramaniam states that the steps to provide green belt in that area are also in progress. He shall place on record the positive steps which are in contemplation. " Mr Shanti Bhushan, Mr. G. L. Sanghi and Mr. R. S. Suri, the learned counsel appearing for the mine-operators, vehemently contended before this court on 29/3/1996 that the mining operations were closed without affording any opportunity to the lessees of the mines. After hearing the learned counsel, this court passed the following order: "There is no order by this court directing the closure of the mines. Mr shanti Bhushan, however, states that in view of the observations made by this court in the earlier orders, the Haryana government has closed the mines in the area. The main contention raised is that without hearing the mine-owners and without giving them any opportunity, the mines have been closed. Needless to say that action regarding closure of the mines has been taken on the basis of the report submitted by the central Pollution Control board. Be that as it may, we give opportunity to these mine-owners to present their case before this court. " The mining operations within the radius of 5 kms from Badkal Lake and surajkund were stopped by the Haryana government on the basis of the recommendation made by the Board. The mine-operators through their learned counsel raised serious objection to the recommendation of the Board seeking closure of the mining operations within the radius of 5 kms. According to the learned counsel the pollution generated, if any, by the mining activities cannot go beyond a distance of one km and as such the closure of the mines within the area of 5 kms was wholly unjustified. It was suggested by the learned counsel 465 that another opinion in this respect may be obtained from an expert body like the national Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). This court on 12/4/1996 passed the following order: "We have heard learned counsel for the parties. We are of the view that it would be useful to have the expert opinion of the National Environmental engineering Research Institute on the point whether the mining operations in the said area are to be stopped in the interest of Environmental Protection, pollution Control and Tourism Development. If so whether the limit should be five kms or less. We, therefore, request Dr Khanna to send an inspection team to the area concerned preferably within next week to examine the question of closure of the mines from the environment and pollution point of view. The team shall also examine the working of the stone crushers and pulverisers in the area. Initially report regarding mines may be filed. We request Dr Khanna to have the report filed in this court within ten days. " the NEERI has filed its inspection report dated 20/4/1996.
(3.) We have heard the learned counsel for the mine-operators at length.;